


Maiden's Kiss

by madlysanecatlady



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: But I'm not sorry, Fairy Tales, Gladnis, Humour, M/M, There's No Excuse For This, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 15:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13367445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madlysanecatlady/pseuds/madlysanecatlady
Summary: Gladio gets turned into a frog. Noctis and Prompto have some weird ideas about how to fix that.





	Maiden's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Poor Ignis.

They hadn’t expected to run into such strong daemons in the tight space of the Nebulawood, but the odd spell-slinging creatures seemed well-suited to dodging between the tightly-knit trees. They had almost taken them all out when the incident happened.

‘Noct, it seems Gladio’s been turned into a frog,’ Ignis remarked, surprised. Usually the Shield was a lot more adept at dodging enemy attacks than that.

‘ _Just great_ ,’ Noctis was out of breath and exasperated. ‘I’ll get him a Maiden’s Kiss in a minute, let me just –’ he broke off with a warp strike to the final daemon, knocking it to the ground where it vanished in a puff of dark, toxic smoke.

Prompto went to collect the frog hopping around the forest floor, squealing as it slimed all over his hands. ‘Eww, gross, Gladio! You’re all slimy and yucky!’

Noctis, laughing, fetched a Maiden’s Kiss and applied it to the frog. Prompto made to let go, but paused when he saw that nothing was happening. He looked up, confused. ‘I thought these things were instant?’

‘Weird,’ Noctis fetched a Remedy. ‘Let’s try this, maybe it’s a different kind of Toad spell.’

The Remedy failed to help as well, by which time Ignis had made his way back towards them after ensuring there were no more daemons creeping out in the cover of the woods. He raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you going to keep him like that or administer an antidote?’

‘We tried,’ Prompto held up the frog, covered in the combination of Maiden’s Kiss and Remedy slopping off its back. ‘It must be a really strong spell or something.’

‘Yeah, we haven’t seen those kinds of daemons before, Specs,’ Noctis’ face was arranged into a worried frown. ‘They were… weird. Like those old faerie tales you used to read me when I was younger about the evil daemon witches.’

‘Maybe they were!’ Prompto suggested excitedly. ‘Maybe that’s why the normal remedies aren’t working! They must have some special magic, like curses that can only be broken by True Love’s Kiss.’

‘Very helpful, Prompto,’ Ignis rolled his eyes. The whole notion was ridiculous. They would merely need to wait out the spell until Gladio returned to normal if their items weren’t going to work. He hoped it wouldn’t take too long; they were still a little far from the nearby haven and Ignis did not like their chances should another group of daemons decide to attack without Gladio’s help.

Prompto held the frog out to Ignis. ‘You have to kiss him, Igs.’

Ignis stiffened, his jaw going slack, betraying his shock. He recovered quickly, but not enough that the other two hadn’t seen it. He coughed. ‘What are you on about, Prompto?’ he tried to sound as politely disinterested as he could.

‘True Love’s Kiss, dummy,’ Prompto said as though it were the most obvious answer in the world. ‘You need to kiss Gladio so he can turn back to normal.’

Ignis blinked. He and Gladio had been subtle, secretive, or at least, he _thought_ they had been. Letting the other two precede them to bed under the pretense of washing up the dishes, they would stay up together by the fire, sharing the precious few intimate moments they were afforded on their journey, a decidedly longer one than they had planned on. He had seen no indication that either Prompto or Noctis had any idea. He coughed again. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘True. Love’s. Kiss,’ Prompto repeated, exasperated. ‘ _You_ need to kiss _Gladio_ so he can stop being a frog. That’s how evil witch curses work, right? You and Gladio are in love. So you need to kiss him.’

‘Humour him, Specs,’ Noctis cut in when Ignis looked like he wanted to argue. He looked thoughtful. ‘He might be onto something. Those stories had to come from somewhere, right?’

‘From the rather active imagination of their authors,’ Ignis said stiffly. ‘This is ridiculous. It’s a simple Toad spell. You musn’t have used the remedies correctly.’

‘Maybe it’s not true love after all,’ Prompto’s shoulders drooped slightly. He looked at the frog apologetically. ‘Sorry big guy, I guess he doesn’t love you enough to look past a little slime.’

‘Oh my goodness,’ Ignis huffed and leaned over to press a kiss to the top of the frog’s head. Nothing happened. ‘There, you see? Nothing happened. We just have to wait it out.’

A loud pop sounded from some nearby bushed and Gladio appeared, getting to his feet and brushing leaves out of his hair. He pushed his way out, chuckling, and coming to stand next to Ignis, who had frozen in place with a disgusted look on his face.

‘So who’s this?’ Prompto looked down at the frog in his hands.

‘A random frog,’ Gladio shrugged. ‘There’s a little stream nearby. Put it down, dude. Poor thing’s probably traumatised.’ He looked to Ignis, who still hadn’t moved. ‘And he’s not the only one.’

‘Hey Specs, snap out of it,’ Noctis sounded bored. ‘We gotta get to camp. I’m _sleepy_.’

‘I think we broke him,’ Prompto said worriedly, waving his hands in front of Ignis’ unmoving face. ‘Hey Igs? Ignis! Come on!’

‘Must be an evil curse,’ Gladio winked at the boys next to him before leaning down to press a kiss to Ignis’ lips, wrapping strong arms around him, smirking against soft lips as he felt Ignis break free from his frozen stance to lean into him. All the strategist needed was something to jolt his brain back into focus. He pulled back. ‘There. True Love’s Kiss saves the day.’

Ignis flushed, releasing a flurry of disjointed reprimands to all three of them. They simply laughed and began walking towards the haven, Gladio dragging Ignis along with a strong arm slung around his shoulders. He leaned over to press a kiss to a reddened cheek. ‘I’m glad to know you’d still love me if I was a frog.’

‘Well, barring all other options,’ Ignis smiled wryly. ‘Although, in the future, I think we’ll stick to applying a Maiden’s Kiss, preferably to the correct frog.’

‘You do you, Iggy, but I think I’d prefer an Ignis Kiss any day.’


End file.
